BY SANDRA SANCHEZ
Assistant opinion editor
While at a movie theater recently, a portly boy stumbled into the row in front of me as the film began and spilled the largest soda he could buy, splashing its 52-ounce, caramel-colored contents onto me.
I wasn’t upset. I was secretly celebrating that he wouldn’t be consuming up to 585 calories in one sitting.
But to my surprise, the female adult he was with told him to “go get a refill,” which he quickly did. Then he proceeded to finish the entire drink.
I halfheartedly watched the movie (with sticky feet). I don’t even remember the title. I was preoccupied by the scenario and disturbed by the effects sugar is having on today’s youth and society.
I readily admit my evaluation of the lad’s faltering is riddled with judgment. But I believe children today need to be protected from the harmful and “toxic” effects of sugar, as Christine Sinatra of Texans Care for Children puts it. If that adult had truly been concerned, she would have given him a cup of water.
I’ll go even further, and likely take flak for it, and publicly endorse New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial proposed ban on large sodas and other sugary drinks. I’m also grateful for first lady Michelle Obama’s push for increased exercise and better nutrition for our youth.
Something has to be done. Our society cannot continue to consume vast amounts of sugar and remain in our comfortable, sedentary lifestyles without significant health and financial consequences to our country and communities in the not-so-distant future.
In Texas, 20 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are obese — that’s above the 16.4 percent national average. These children face an 80 percent chance of staying obese their entire lives, as well as significant health issues, like diabetes.
Obesity costs Texas businesses $9.5 billion per year and could rise to $32.5 billion by 2030 if the issue goes unaddressed, the state comptroller reported in 2011. Yet, many people still balk if lawmakers even hint at recommending changes to their lifestyles. They scream their rights are being violated and accuse the government of trying to take over their lives. But if citizens won’t take initiative, then outlawing or restricting access to certain food or drink is a solution.
I grew up in the 1970s when sharing a 12-ounce can of Coke (or Sprite) with my brother was a treat we got only a few times a year. If I was really lucky, it was paired with a hamburger from Burger King that had me licking my lips for weeks. Nowadays, parents readily have liters of soda for children on hand, or worse, they buy them supersized 64-ounce soda Big Gulps — equal to almost six Cokes that I used to split. Six!
I was sickened by photos of parents picketing outside the New York City Board of Health’s July 24 public hearing on Bloomberg’s plan to ban large-size sodas and sugary beverages from city restaurants, sports arenas, movie theaters and food carts. Protesters had young children in tow drinking Big Gulps for emphasis and press attention.
Former Coke executive Todd Putman told public health officials in Washington this summer he had been part of an industrywide trend to campaign for what the company called “share of stomach.” He warned youth and minorities of an “intense” strategy beverage companies used to attract consumers.
That includes a $2 billion industry-wide marketing campaign, Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, testified at the New York hearing.
The New York health board is expected to vote Sept. 13. If the ban passes, I hope it will trigger other states to act.
During the 2011 Texas Legislature, a penny-per-ounce soft-drink tax was considered. It was backed by the Texas Pediatric Society, Children’s Hospital Association of Texas, Methodist Healthcare Ministries and Texans Care for Children. “A soft-drink tax could do to childhood obesity what the tobacco tax did to smoking, which would be to turn around a harmful, growing trend,” Kris Kaiser Olson, of Waco, who is on the Texans Care for Children board, wrote in a 2011 Tribune-Herald column.
The effort failed, but I urge lawmakers to bring it up again and seriously consider it when they convene in January. Our children’s health is at stake.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at 757-5723 or ssanchez@wacotrib.com.
Sandra E. Sanchez 